Text Messages Replace Greetings Cards

By Ryan Culling

A recent survey by a mobile phone price comparison website has found that traditional greetings cards are gradually being replaced by text messages, as people choose to show that they care with technology instead of paper and a pen.

Family members proved to be the most likely to receive a card, with 66% of people saying they would buy their immediate relatives a card for a special occasion. However, only 42% of people said that they would to the same for a friend.

Image Courtesy of rightmobilephone

Just under two thirds of people surveyed said that they would send a text message instead of a card to a friend. 31% of those people said that the reason for this was down to cost. 46% said that they texted because it was easier and 5% said that it was because they did not remember until the actual day.

When asked whether they thought it was unnecessary to send both a card and a text message, 83% of people answered yes. The survey also found that 91% of Facebook users send messages via the site to family and friends on special occasions after they are reminded on their social networking page.

Co-founder of rightmobilephone.co.uk, Neil McHugh, speaking about the results of the research, said “Text messaging now plays a major part in most people’s day-to-day lives and it’s a quicker and much more efficient way of contact than letters or cards, especially with the recent postal strikes taking their toll.

He continued, “Texting is also a more cost-effective way of sending a message on a special occasion, as greetings cards can be fairly expensive and most only end up getting thrown away after the day. When you look at it that way, it’s no surprise that more people are texting ‘Happy Birthday’ than putting it in a card.”